Before any investigation into the MH17 crash even started, Western politicians and the media were quick to pin the blame for the tragedy on Russia. The parts of the story that do not support the theory seem to have been simply disregarded.

A UN Security Council resolution, unanimously adopted on Monday,
urges a "full, thorough and independent international
investigation" into the MH17 crash.

But for some it’s already clear who is to blame.

"...this is a direct result of Russia destabilizing a
sovereign state, violating its territorial integrity, backing
thuggish militias and training and arming them," British
Prime Minister David Cameron wrote.

"What's happening is really grotesque and it is contrary to
everything President Putin and Russia said they would do,"
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on NBC television.

Western mass media, so sure of the Kremlin’s hand in whatever bad
things happen in Ukraine, has lately switched from calling
anti-government forces in the east of the country pro-Russian to
plainly Russian separatists.

While Russia is being vilified as the country directly involved
in the downing of the MH17 plane, the allegations have so far
been based on a number of unverified claims rather than on real
evidence.

Missile launched from self-defense controlled area?

Ukraine claims the missile that hit the plane was launched from
territory controlled by the opposition. The West has endorsed
this point of view.

“A surface-to-air missile launch was detected from a
separatist-controlled area inside eastern Ukraine,” British
Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday.

Intelligence expert Charles Shoebridge says no one can be sure of
that.

“I think that much of eastern Ukraine is in a fluid situation
in terms of who controls what at a given time,” he told RT.

The Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior released a 12-second video
of a missile launcher being moved along a road. The video is
entitled “Fighters smuggle BUK rocket launcher to the border
with Russia.”

No proof has been presented supporting the claim. Meanwhile, some
of internet users say they recognize the location as territory
that has been under the control of the Ukrainian army for the
past two months.

“When you say evidence, this is something that is produced by
experts on the ground,” former security consultant at the
OSCE Lode Vanoost told RT. “It takes weeks and months, before
you can come to any conclusions. Whatever is being said now is
just speculation for political motives.”

There has been a lot of speculation that anti-Kiev forces
controlling the region, where the plane crashed, have interfered
with the investigation and not sealed off the area.

“The separatists are removing evidence from the crash
site,” President Obama said.

“The work has been made more difficult by the presence of
armed separatists,” stated Cameron.

The anti-government fighters have refuted reports of their
meddling with the crash site and in their turn lashed out at
international investigators for not coming to the plane crash
scene sooner.

“We are interested in the most comprehensive and objective
investigation,” said Aleksandr Boroday, PM of the
self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. “But we don't feel
like there is enthusiasm among the international community and
experts. Several dozen experts are currently in Kiev. Can they
please come here faster? We are surprised and frankly angered
that we have to keep the area untouched while we are waiting for
them for so long.”

There has been much fuss in the media, concerning the Ukrainian
militia obtaining the so-called black boxes from the Malaysian
Boeing-777 airliner. Speculation has arisen over whether they
would hand the boxes over to Russia.

The anti-government fighters have always insisted the boxes were
stored by them to be eventually given to international experts.
And they kept their promise: they gave the black boxes to Malaysian experts on Monday.

Intercepted phone call proves militia shot down the plane?

Ukraine released what it calls an intercepted conversation between anti-government forces
in which they allegedly admit to downing the plane. Western media
picked up the news, despite lack of independent confirmation on
the recording’s authenticity.

The tape has been examined by a leading company who help Moscow
police decide how authentic recordings are. Its speech and sound
analyst, Nikolay Popov, claims the recording was fabricated.

“It’s been presented as one unedited recording,” Popov
said. “In reality this audio file was compiled of several
fragments. The time markers are inconsistent at the part where
it’s said that the plane was downed by Cossacks. These markers
reveal that one fragment was recorded at 16:43, and the second
fragment, which comes right afterwards was recorded at
17:15.”

Russia supplied anti-government fighters with missile launchers?

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) alleged that it has proof
the self-defense forces in eastern Ukraine received a Buk anti-aircraft missile system, complete
with a crew from Russia.

Malaysian flight MH17 “was shot down by a missile from the Buk-M
air defense system, which was transferred from the territory of
Russia,” said Valentin Nalivaychenko, SBU head, without
elaborating on the evidence.

The Russian Defense Ministry dismissed the allegations, saying
that neither the Buk missile defense system nor any other
military equipment, has crossed the Russian border into Ukraine.

Such border crossings “can’t be performed in secrecy,” the
official representative for the Russian Defense Ministry told
journalists in Moscow.

Russia says, according to its observations, a Ukrainian Buk
anti-aircraft missile battery was operational in the region on the day of the
Malaysian airliner’s crash.

Why did MH17 change route?

The plane was directed by Ukrainian air traffic control to fly
2,000 meters lower than planned. And the aircraft was also guided
off its normal path.

“Please note that the plane stayed within the corridor until it
reached Donetsk, but then it deviated from the route to the north,” chief
of General Staff of the Armed Forces Lt. Gen. Andrey Kartopolov
said at a press-conference on Monday.

That leaves one wondering why the plane was advised to take a
potentially dangerous route over a territory of on-going military
actions.

“What is actually suspicious is that the plane deviated from a
route it typically takes, which seems to be now very, very
different from the flight just the day before,” Mischa Dohler,
Wireless Communications Professor told RT.

Disrespect by anti-government forces?

What the media was quick to latch onto was a picture of an
alleged looter at the crash site. The photo, showing a man
holding a toy monkey, caused massive uproar.

Putin supported Ukraine separatist holding a child' toy monkey
like a trophy. The family would probably like it back. pic.twitter.com/W6e9vtFW9T

The photo has been retweeted many times, accompanied by angry
comments. The anti-government fighter was described as holding a
child's toy as if it were a trophy.

A full video of the episode, however, shows the man was actually
paying tribute to the victims of the crash. Seconds after holding
the toy, the man laid it back down, took off his hat, bowed his
head and crossed himself.